The Woman Who Let Down Her Hair [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. No one is saved because they pay off their own debt.

What he's saying is that people are saved because they come to believe that Jesus paid off the debt. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series titled, God Used Who?

And you may just be surprised, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. This is the picture of the heart of the Christian who understands what Jesus has done in giving His life for us. It is the fuel of the passion of our lives that we are filled with the meditation of Christ and what He's done.

Think much of Jesus and what He's done for you. Do you want everything ordered in your life? Do you want everything directed towards Christ? Do you want to have more love in your heart for the Son of God than think much of the greatness of His mercy? Something extraordinary happens in this woman where she suddenly becomes unthinking and unconcerned about the appearances with others. She's already been scorned and ostracized by the society, but now it is as though she is frozen in time and all that matters to her is the love that she has for Christ. She becomes a picture of what the Jewish people had been taught from the beginning.

Love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. It's a picture of love for God. And meanwhile, Simon the Pharisee who has invited Jesus and has had this feast, he begins thinking to himself. He's inside his thoughts. He doesn't say it out loud. He's just thinking to himself, Jesus, if He knew what sort of woman this is, He would rebuke her.

But obviously He doesn't know who she is because He's letting her do this. And therefore, he concludes, Jesus is no prophet at all. And in the midst of Simon having these thoughts, Jesus gets a word of knowledge with the Holy Spirit. He understands and sees into the thoughts of Simon. I don't think that Jesus just walked around as the Son of God and necessarily knew what everybody was thinking all the time, but sometimes He clearly did because He was full of the Holy Spirit without measure. He was God Himself, and He knew in this instant what Simon was thinking, and so He told him this parable.

And the parable was very simple. He said two men owed the same creditor money. One was a manageable sum, 50 denarii, and the other, a large sum, 500.

Now for a day worker, a day's wage was about one denarius. So this is about a year and a half of wages for one, and the other, it's about 50 days of wages. But the point of the story was that neither one of them could afford to pay the debt, because it doesn't matter whether the debt was massive or the debt was smaller. If you're not in a position to be able to pay it, then you are utterly obliged. And in that culture, if you had a debt, it would be punishable by imprisonment.

In our culture, there may be other ways of handling it, and we have bankruptcy laws and all of these things. But these men would go to prison if the creditor required it of them. But instead, he forgave both their debt. And Jesus said, now which one of these would love him more? And Simon said, well, I suppose the one who had the greater debt. And Jesus is using this little parable to make this point, this woman who recognized how much she had been forgiven, recognized how great her debt was.

She loved me so much. But you, Simon, have not recognized the greatness of your debt. It's a story that is just filled with irony. As I mentioned in our opening comics about white Christmas, irony is from a literary standpoint when you know something as the reader or the audience that the characters don't know. But there are many levels of irony. In fact, there's what we all know in day-to-day life, verbal irony. That's where something that you say is actually the opposite of what you mean in order to make your point. Like I had gotten recently a new white sport shirt, and the first or second time I wore it, I spilled some spaghetti sauce onto it.

And when the first drop looked down, and I know how it stains, and I looked down and said, great. Well, that was irony, because I didn't mean great. I meant awful.

But by saying great like that, I meant it is even worse than if I had just said awful. That's a form of irony. Or it's an irony when you discover that until recently the biggest dog in Britain, Great Dane, it was over seven feet, was named Tiny. Or it's ironic if you see it posted in the newspaper that procrastinators anonymous meeting has been postponed. So these are forms we talk about day-to-day, little verbal ironies. But there's also what we call situational ironies.

And that's where you're in a situation in which the opposite should be true, but it is not true. Like in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's the famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, that tells of these sailors that are adrift in uncharted waters, and they are about to thirst to death. And there is a line in the famous poem, water, water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink.

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink. So they're surrounded by water and nearly thirsting to death, but ironically can't drink any of the water. So that is irony. But the greatest sense of irony we're talking about is like what we're talking about with White Christmas, where you see something in the story and the character doesn't see it, and so it's making the point in a stronger way.

And that's what this story has going on. It's magnificent, it's beautiful, and it's ironic. Here's the first irony, as I've already alluded to. As the case is in the scriptures over and over, the Pharisees and other religious leaders, the ones that should know God the best, end up seeming to know Him the least. The ones who have studied the scriptures, memorized the Torah, worked out a detailed religious life of keeping all the laws in order to be the righteous ones, over and over are depicted in the scriptures as the ones who seem to understand Jesus the least.

They know all the prophecies about the Messiah, but they can't seem to see how they're fulfilled in the Messiah. So Simon, the religious leader, is the one who should be able to be close to Jesus, but he's very far in this scene. And this woman, who is a sinner, who wasn't even supposed to touch a religious person, is the one who is very close to Jesus. It's one of the most beautiful and deepest ironies of life with God. Those who think that they are righteous and good and better than others, and more holy than others, are distant from God.

But those who know that they don't deserve His love or His kindness, and have a great debt, and would be utterly lost and without hope except in His sovereign grace, those are very close to God. So that irony is at work in this story. There's another second irony. Simon thinks, I'm just trying to follow the irony of this, okay? Simon thinks he knows what's going on in the mind of Jesus. And he thinks that Jesus doesn't know what's going on in the mind of Simon. And he thinks that Jesus doesn't know anything about this woman.

But in fact, what we realize is that Simon doesn't know what Jesus is thinking, and he doesn't know what Jesus thinks about this woman, and he doesn't know that Jesus knows exactly what Simon is thinking, which is related to a third irony. And that is that Simon is thinking to himself, the fact that this Jesus does not know who this woman is means that he doesn't have discernment, and he doesn't have prophetic ability. He's thinking he should be able to discern this is not the kind of woman that a religious leader should be associating with. And he's also thinking, and if you were a mighty prophet from God, if this were a Messiah, if this were some mighty prophet, then he would be able to know from divine discernment who this woman is.

But he's sitting here thinking, this Jesus knows nothing. This Jesus is proving that he is not the Son of God by the fact that he doesn't recognize who this woman is. So in other words, Simon the Pharisee is making the conclusion there is nothing special about Jesus because he's letting this woman, this sinner, anoint his feet. He is saying, ironically, there's nothing special about Jesus because Jesus is allowing a sinner to touch him. And the irony is Simon, the very thing that is so special about Jesus and separates him from every other religious leader and separates the gospel from every other religion in the world and the history of the world is that Jesus came so that the quote sinner could draw near to him. What's different about this Jesus is he's not afraid of being contaminated by this woman's uncleanliness. Instead, he is absolutely convinced that he is the giver of life and the forgiver of sins and that therefore he can make her clean. Jesus is unconcerned about being associated with the sinner because Jesus came to save sinners, thus proving that he is the Son of God. And so Simon, who thinks that it's proof that Jesus isn't special, is missing the entire point.

Wow. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.

You've believed it in your mind. Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you, and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love, which you long for, can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of the five love languages, says, The incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart, accept Christ's proposal, enjoy His embrace, revel in His love.

After all, it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. Here's the fourth irony. Simon is convinced that the woman is the great sinner in this story. But what we see is that Simon is the great sinner in the story, and that what the sin is defined as being here is not recognizing Jesus.

And when Jesus says to the woman, Your faith has saved you, what He's saying is not that your faith was a work that saved you, but that your faith was the instrument through which you have been saved. In other words, He's announcing the gospel and saying that no one is saved because they pay off their own debt. What He's saying is that people are saved because they come to belief that Jesus paid off the debt. You see, what is so remarkable about this parable, this little short parable, two people have this debt to this creditor, is that the debt can't be paid, and therefore one of two things is going to happen. The ones who are in debt are going to be punished and sent to prison, and so they pay for it, or they're going to find a way to gather the funds and pay their debt, or there's a third option, and that is the unthinkable. The creditor just forgives the debt. But if the creditor forgives the debt, then the creditor is the one who's paying for it.

But wherever there's forgiveness of debt, somebody's paying a lot. And what the woman realized is that she couldn't pay her debt. She couldn't lift her own shame. She couldn't change her own heart.

She couldn't ever make herself presentable to God. And so Jesus had somehow touched her. It's the gospel.

It's beautiful. And then here's the overarching irony that encapsulates all the other ironies, and it is rooted in the question that Jesus asks of Simon. He tells this little parable, and then at verse 44, turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, do you see this woman? It's an ironic question because on the surface level He sees her, but in the heart, in the spirit, He doesn't see her. Jesus sees her.

It's all been set up by all the language of seeing. If you were to look backwards in the chapter, verse 20 of chapter 7, when the men had come and they said, John, the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And then in verse 21, it says, in that hour He healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind He bestowed sight. And then at verse 22, Jesus said, tell John what you've seen.

You heard the blind received their sight. It is a lot in this chapter about seeing until we come to this pivotal moment, and Jesus says to the Pharisee, do you see this woman? And the answer is no, He doesn't see her. The Pharisee thinks Jesus doesn't see who the woman is, but Jesus is the only one who sees the woman because the woman is not a sinner.

The woman is a woman. She is God's creation made in His image. And it's very clear from the text and from the parable Jesus tells that she had been forgiven. The language, the tense of the language says she was a woman who had been a sinner. And so Jesus sees her now no longer as a sinner. He doesn't look according to her past. He looks according to her future.

And this is the way He sees you. Do you see this woman? And part of the irony is that the Pharisee cannot see the woman because he cannot see Jesus.

And we cannot see people as they really are unless we see Jesus. She is the woman who should not be remembered as the woman who had sinned much. She should be remembered as the woman who loved much. She loved so much and now she has a future and a hope. Not a religious leader trained in theology and yet she sees Jesus for who He is.

Do you see this woman? He's trying to get Simon to see. He's trying to get her a vision of the new covenant to Him. That in the new covenant we don't pay for our debt because we can't pay for our debt. There isn't payment for forgiveness. Instead forgiveness comes and then there's love and there's gratitude. The gratitude is linked to the forgiveness of debt but the love is linked to recognizing the nature of the one who would forgive a debt.

If Wells Fargo Bank suddenly forgave my mortgage I'd be grateful but I wouldn't necessarily go and kiss somebody's feet and anoint them with oil. But when you recognize that someone is far more noble and beautiful and loving and merciful than you ever know then you fall in love with them. That's what happened to this woman. She fell in love with Jesus. There's a word here for us beloved and it's a word for this new year. It's a word that is growing strong in me and it starts with this. You have been forgiven much. You have been loved so much. You have been touched so much and I just as we begin this year and begin this season and I think of this story it makes my heart swell not only with gratitude to God but the affections that I have for the Son of God.

May you have ever increasing affection for the Son of God in this coming year. If you do it brings an ordering simplicity to your life. Life is busy. Life is confused.

Life is crazy at times. And how in the world you make sense out of all of it and to bring the right central ordering priority to your life it is in this seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these other things are added to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.

It brings a beautiful simplicity to your life. And so there's good news in here that in this seemingly chaotic world your love for God is going to direct you and there is also a beautiful message here of abounding hope for our future, for your future and for mine. Jesus does not see you according to your past. He sees you according to your forgiven condition positioned with Him and He sees you therefore according to your future. I think part of what I'm hearing the Lord say is you have been forgiven. I'm speaking to those who are in Christ. I'm speaking to those who you've been through a process of healing. I'm speaking to those who you've been on a journey and you've been discovering grace and I think with the message now God says His grace is real. His love is real. His healing is real. His forgiveness is real. It is okay to move on. Let it be your new identity. This is what God is saying and saying you have the opportunity as this woman to go in peace.

Irony. A religious leader who should be close to Jesus isn't close to Jesus and a woman who is called a sinner is so close to Him because it's the nature of the gospel. We don't get close to God by our religiosity. We are close to God because He came to us and forgave us and we who are saved only by and through faith, eyes of faith that see Jesus, we are the ones who have been lavish with such forgiveness that the rest of our life becomes an offering at His feet. That's what this woman did and that's the gospel. Alan Wright, in the conclusion of today's teaching, the woman who let down her hair.

We've got more with Alan in a moment. Additional insight on this for our life and today's final word. Stick with us. God's love. You've heard about it with your ears.

You've believed it in your mind. Now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book, Lover of My Soul. The Bible is a love story from beginning to end. You are the spiritual bride of Christ, the perfect bridegroom. The Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you, to win you and to walk with you hand in hand. For any man who has fallen in love with a woman, you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like. For any woman who has searched for true love, which you long for can only be found fully in God. Gary Chapman, renowned author of the five love languages says, the incredible reality that God pursues us in love comes to life in Lover of My Soul. Ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart. Accept Christ's proposal, enjoy his embrace, revel in his love.

After all, it's a match made in heaven. It's Lover of My Soul by Alan Wright. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries.

Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Alan, I think of forgiveness and I think of understanding what she understood, how wonderful of a gift this was and is, is her response really the response that, that comes naturally for us all?

Well, I think it is. You know, if you really see what Jesus has done for you, this is the importance, Daniel, and for every listener to take this in. If you want to have a greater gratitude to God, if you want to become a more lavish worshiper and giver, if you want to have your affections change, if you want to let go of the things of the world and live a more godly life, all this is wonderful, but it doesn't take place by you somehow making a decision that you're going to exercise greater willpower or you're going to just exercise more discipline. It comes from really seeing what Jesus has done for you. And that's what happened to this woman. She, she, unlike the religious Pharisees that were on looking, who had no idea what Jesus was doing for them, this woman knew. And that changed everything. So suddenly all the cultural mores, all of our savings, all of our everything now without thought is spilled out upon the feet of Jesus in adoration. That's how powerful the gospel is. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.